More than 120 businesses with combined revenue in excess of $20 billion signed on to a letter in support of restoration. The companies also urged that Gulf states invest the money in worker training initiatives to connect local low-income and disadvantaged workers with new jobs that will be created in constructing, designing and administering restoration projects.

The letter was addressed to the governors of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, who sit on the restoration council, which will decide how the fines are spent.

Nonprofit groups Oxfam America and The Nature Conservancy delivered the letters Tuesday to the Gulf state governors.

Local companies and groups that signed the letter were Bayou Industrial Group and Duplantis Design Group of Thibodaux, South Central Industrial Association and Phylway Construction of Houma and Ted M. Falgout and Associates of Larose.

“If we have the support of the business community then hopefully the local people made most vulnerable by land loss will have a chance as well as the livelihood opportunities that will arise,” said Rebecca Templeton, executive director of Bayou Grace, a community nonprofit in Chauvin.

The Restore Act, passed by Congress last year, dedicates 80 percent of Clean Water Act fines from the oil spill back to the Gulf Coast for restoration.

Companies involved with the spill can be fined from $1,000 to $4,300 per barrel leaked after the 2010 deadly explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig.

On Tuesday, a federal judge approved Transocean’s $1 billion civil settlement for its involvement in the spill. A portion of those fines will go into the Gulf Restoration Trust Fund and could be available by the end of April, said Teresa Christopher, senior advisor for Gulf restoration with the U.S. Department of Commerce. For BP, that settlement could add up to fines of between $5 billion and $20 billion.

A recent study by Mather Economics found the Restore Act could result in the creation of 57,697 new jobs, an average of about 1,549 new jobs per year.

The money would promote job growth in industries such as transportation and utilities, government, hospitality, business services, construction, retail and manufacturing. Those jobs would have annual wages between $13,334 and $54,471 per year, according to the report.

“Coastal restoration projects have the opportunity to wrap together both ends of the socioeconomic spectrum in the Gulf Coast as it relates to jobs. Under the leadership of the Gulf Coast states, this is a chance to put scientists and engineers to work together with construction and monitoring crews. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to invest in the Gulf environmentally and economically,” said Elliott Bouillion, CEO of Resource Environmental Solutions, which operates Louisiana’s largest native plant and coastal grass nursery in Pointe-aux-Chenes.

In addition, the Gulf hosts more than 23 million recreational fishing trips each year and provides 600,000 jobs and $9 billion in wages.

Healthy wetlands, barrier islands and oyster reefs can mitigate the impacts of hurricanes and storm surge flooding. Annual losses from disasters are estimated at about $17 billion, according to the letter.

“Thanks to the resources made available through the Restore Act, there is an unprecedented opportunity to restore the Gulf, to strengthen our traditional industries, create new economic mobility and accelerate emerging markets that center on environmental restoration,” the letter reads.

Simone Maloz, executive director of Restore or Retreat, a coastal-advocacy group, said as much of the Restore Act dollars as possible should be devoted to restoration. The ecosystem council also has goals to put some of that money toward economic revitalization, Maloz said, but any workforce or economic projects should be weighed carefully by the council for their coastal benefits.

Nikki Buskey can be reached at 857-2205 or nicole.buskey@houmatoday.com.

<p>Business leaders are asking the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council to spend Gulf oil spill fine money on large-scale coastal restoration projects they say will create jobs, strengthen coastal community resilience and contribute to long-term economic renewal.</p><p>More than 120 businesses with combined revenue in excess of $20 billion signed on to a letter in support of restoration. The companies also urged that Gulf states invest the money in worker training initiatives to connect local low-income and disadvantaged workers with new jobs that will be created in constructing, designing and administering restoration projects.</p><p>The letter was addressed to the governors of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, who sit on the restoration council, which will decide how the fines are spent.</p><p>Nonprofit groups Oxfam America and The Nature Conservancy delivered the letters Tuesday to the Gulf state governors. </p><p>Local companies and groups that signed the letter were Bayou Industrial Group and Duplantis Design Group of Thibodaux, South Central Industrial Association and Phylway Construction of Houma and Ted M. Falgout and Associates of Larose.</p><p>“If we have the support of the business community then hopefully the local people made most vulnerable by land loss will have a chance as well as the livelihood opportunities that will arise,” said Rebecca Templeton, executive director of Bayou Grace, a community nonprofit in Chauvin.</p><p>The Restore Act, passed by Congress last year, dedicates 80 percent of Clean Water Act fines from the oil spill back to the Gulf Coast for restoration. </p><p>Companies involved with the spill can be fined from $1,000 to $4,300 per barrel leaked after the 2010 deadly explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig.</p><p>On Tuesday, a federal judge approved Transocean's $1 billion civil settlement for its involvement in the spill. A portion of those fines will go into the Gulf Restoration Trust Fund and could be available by the end of April, said Teresa Christopher, senior advisor for Gulf restoration with the U.S. Department of Commerce. For BP, that settlement could add up to fines of between $5 billion and $20 billion.</p><p>A recent study by Mather Economics found the Restore Act could result in the creation of 57,697 new jobs, an average of about 1,549 new jobs per year.</p><p>The money would promote job growth in industries such as transportation and utilities, government, hospitality, business services, construction, retail and manufacturing. Those jobs would have annual wages between $13,334 and $54,471 per year, according to the report.</p><p>“Coastal restoration projects have the opportunity to wrap together both ends of the socioeconomic spectrum in the Gulf Coast as it relates to jobs. Under the leadership of the Gulf Coast states, this is a chance to put scientists and engineers to work together with construction and monitoring crews. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to invest in the Gulf environmentally and economically,” said Elliott Bouillion, CEO of Resource Environmental Solutions, which operates Louisiana's largest native plant and coastal grass nursery in Pointe-aux-Chenes.</p><p>Ecosystem restoration will also protect the Gulf's productive outdoors-based economy. The Gulf Coast produces 1.3 billion pounds of seafood annually with a dockside value of $661 million.</p><p>In addition, the Gulf hosts more than 23 million recreational fishing trips each year and provides 600,000 jobs and $9 billion in wages.</p><p>Healthy wetlands, barrier islands and oyster reefs can mitigate the impacts of hurricanes and storm surge flooding. Annual losses from disasters are estimated at about $17 billion, according to the letter.</p><p>“Thanks to the resources made available through the Restore Act, there is an unprecedented opportunity to restore the Gulf, to strengthen our traditional industries, create new economic mobility and accelerate emerging markets that center on environmental restoration,” the letter reads. </p><p>Simone Maloz, executive director of Restore or Retreat, a coastal-advocacy group, said as much of the Restore Act dollars as possible should be devoted to restoration. The ecosystem council also has goals to put some of that money toward economic revitalization, Maloz said, but any workforce or economic projects should be weighed carefully by the council for their coastal benefits.</p><p>Nikki Buskey can be reached at 857-2205 or nicole.buskey@houmatoday.com.</p>